Taiwan claims 10th gold with victory in women’s karate

Staff writer, with CNA

Taiwan’s Ku Tsui-ping celebrates after defeating Hong Kong’s Tsang Yee-ting to advance to the women’s under-50kg karate final. Ku went on to win gold in the event on the last day of the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, yesterday.

Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times

Taiwan’s Ku Tsui-ping (辜翠萍) won a gold medal yesterday with an 8-3 victory over Yekaterina Khupovets of Kazakhstan in the women’s under-50kg karate final on the last day of the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

Earlier in the day, Taiwan won two bronze medals, in table tennis and soft tennis.

With Taiwan’s last chance of taking their 10th gold resting on her, Ku kept her cool and defeated two South Korean opponents 4-0 and 2-0 respectively, and a Chinese competitor 3-2 to advance to the semi-finals.

The 19-year-old University of Taipei student then overpowered a Hong Kong opponent 3-0 to advance to the final against Khupovets.

Ku took an early lead over Khupovets in the first minute of the fight, scoring three points.

In the second minute, Khupovets scored her first point, but Ku later came back to widen her lead to 6-1, and finished the match 8-3.

In table tennis, Taiwan’s Chuang Chih-yuan (莊智淵) lost to Fan Zhendong (樊振東) of China 11-8, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 to finish third in the men’s singles event.

In soft tennis, Taiwan also came third after being defeated by South Korea in the women’s team event.

In the final medal standings, Taiwan was ranked ninth among the 45 nations competing, with 10 gold, 18 silver and 23 bronze medals.